Experience installation | Visa | Early Encounters

Welcoming visitors to Te Papa with a hongi

Visa were sponsoring an exhibition at the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, about early encounters between European settlers and tangata whenua – the indigenous Maori people.

So we decided to welcome the visitors to the museum with a giant hongi – a traditional Maori greeting where people come together and press noses in a sign of mutual respect. As the two automatic front doors pulled apart and came together, so did the noses of a rangatira, a Maori chief, and an English captain.